Wringer control mechanism



"April 29, 1941. A. w. AL'rdRFER 2,240,280

WRINGER CONTROL MECHANISI Filed Nov. '26, 1934 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INYENTDE..-

- ATTYE- April 29, 1941. A. w. ALTORFER WRINGER CONTROL MECHANISM .2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Nov. 26, 1934 In'sz'zn'rcra;

Patented Apr. 29, 1941 WRINGER CON TROL MECHANISM Alpheusw. Altorfer, East Peoria, Ill. Application November '26, 1934, Serial No. 754,733

3 Claims.

This invention relates to wringer control mechanism, particularly to a mechanism for controlling reverse mechanism for wringer rolls.

An object of the invention is to provide reverse mechanism which is power operated.

Another object is to provide power operated reverse mechanism in which the power means is manually controlled.

A further object is to provide power operated reverse mechanism in which the power means is manually controlled, the manual control means being so arranged that reversing operation of the wringer rolls is accomplished by a slight pressure of the finger.

An additional object is to provide a wringer mechanism having manually controlled power operated clutching'mechanism disposed between the power source driving the wringer and the mechanism of the wringer whereby power to drive thewringer mechanism is controlled to start and stop the wringer,'and an additional manually controlled power operated clutching mechanism for distributing power delivered through the first mentioned clutch mechanism whereby the direction of rotation of the wringer rolls is manually controlled.

Additional objects will become apparent in the following description and accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of a wringer mechanism embodying my invention with portions of the housing broken away to expose under-v lying mechanism;

Fig. 2 is a fragmental sectional side-elevational view showing mechanism in detail to facilitate description;

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2 showing certain parts in operated position as will be explained;

Fig. 4 is a sectional plan view taken on line 44 in Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a sectional plan view similar to Fig. 4 showing certain parts in operated position to be explained, and I Fig. 6 is a sectional plan view taken on lin 66 in Fig. 3.

Fig. 1 discloses my invention as embodied in a roll wringer mechanism I0, including a wringer frame ll, lower and upper rolls i2 and I3, and

a wringer head mechanism disposed within a housing H, the whole being mounted upon a support IS.

The support means, being conventional, is not shown and will not be described furtherthan to say that a drive shaft, as will later appear, is

disposed therein whereby power for operating the wringer mechanism is made available.

Exterior of the wringer head mechanism there is disposed for convenient access, a finger key It having operable connection with the driven mechanism as will be explained, and a finger button I! having operable connection, also to be explained, with the reverse mechanism of the wringer.

Figs. 2 and 3 illustrate'that rolls l2 and i3 are mounted in the frame H in bearing blocks l8 and i9, block 18 being stationarily mounted while block I9 is movably mounted. A conventional spring mechanism 20 urges roll l3 toward roll l2 whereby resilient pressure relation therebetween is maintained.

The lower roll I2 has a shaft 2| extending through block l8 which has a flattened end portion 22 engaged within a collar 23, which latter is secured upon a shaft 24 journalled in a bearing 25 formed in housing H.

Keyed to shaft 24 is a pinion 26 meshed with which is a pinion 21 keyed to a rearwardly extending boss portion 28 of a bevel gear 29. Gear 29 is supported by means of boss 28 being. journaled in a bearing 30 formed in housing 14.

Gear 29 is meshed with upper and lower bevel pinions 30 and 3|. The latter pinions are rotatably mounted upon a vertical shaft 33 having its upper end journaled in a bearing 34 and its lower end secured within a collar 35 which, in turn, is journaled in a bearing 36 formed in housing M.

The lower end of collar 35 is provided'with dentures 31, for a purpose to be described, and within the lower part of this collar is journaled the upper end of a drive shaft 38.

At a lower point, drive shaft 38 is journaled at 39 in a portion of housing l4, and the shaft extends downwardly to have connection with a I source of power, not shown.

Shaft 38 is provided with an attached collar 40 which rests upon the surface of a floor portion,

of housing It and the lower end of shaft 33 rests upon the upper end thereof within the collar 35. Thus downward longitudinal movementof shaft 33 is prevented. Upward longitudinal movement of the shaft is obviously prevented by abutment with the bottom of bearing 34.

Pinions 30 and 3! are provided with dentures 30 and 3| and a clutch member 4|, having complemental dentures extending from either end, is slidably disposed on shaft 33 between the pinions.

Clutch 4! is held in slidable keyed relation with shaft 33 by means of a key 42 secured in the shaft clutch 4| I provide a novel manually controlled,

power operated clutch mechanism as folows:

Disposed above pinion 30, and afiixed to shaft 33 is a collar member 43 having a flange portion 43', see Fig. 4, at its upper end. The flange portion is provided with dentures 44, the purposemf which will be explained shortly.

aelaaso ciprocal movement of member 44 'is transmitted to member 5|, to bring about corresponding sliding movement of clutch 4|. The arrangement further provides a connection whereby member 48 may move independently of member 5| in case. at the instant of operation, the dentures of clutch 4| engage upon the top of the dentures 50 or II and the clutch is thereby momentarily prevented from moving in unison with member 48. In practical use, the condition noted would prevail for but a moment, as continued rotation of clutch 4! would immediately bring the dentures into a position of proper register, at which time one of springs 58 would become effective to complete movement of the clutch into properly engaged position.

The drawings illustrate that member 45 has a relatively broad, flat top surface. Reference to Rotatably m'ounted upon collar 43 is a mem V ber 45 having a cam groove 45, which follows an irregular line about the periphery of the member. The line of the groove is indicated in dotted lines in Figs. 2 and 3, and in full line in Fig. 1.

It will-be noted that the conformity of the groove is such that when the member is disturn the clutch elements from the reverse posi-' tion to-the forward position, thus-the member 45 and-the groove 48 constitute a half-revolution cam to move the'd'riving clutch element into engagement with either of the driven clutch elements.

Disposed in the groove is an anguiated exten sion 41, see Fig. 6, of a member 48, which has a lower inwardly diverted portion 49. The body of member 44 is made longitudinally slidable iiia vertical groove 58 in housing l4. Obviously with portion 41 engaged as'shown in groove 46, rotation of member 45 will bring about reciprocal movement of member 48.

Disposed inwardly of an adjacent member 48 Figs. 4 and 5 will disclose that a pawl member 59 is'pivotally attached at 50 upon this top surface. The pawl has a tooth portion adapted to engage dentures 44 of collar 43 and is urged thereto by a spring GI anchored at 62 on the top surface of member 45.

Figs-1, 2 and 4 illustrate a bifurcated member 63 having arms extending upon either side of flange portion 43. The arms are spaceedaway tions 65. By means of these, and a pin 65 supported in housing l4, member 63 is rockably supported in such a manner that it may be disposed as shown in solid lines in Fig. 3 to place portions Y 64 in the path of pawl 55, or moved to the position is a member 5| having an inwardly directed lower portion 52 which is engaged in an annular groove 53 of clutch 4i;

Member 5| is sofashioned as to have portions 54,'see Figs. 1, 2, and 6, extending upwardly upon both sides of member 48 and the body thereof is slidably mounted in a grooved portion'55 of housing i 4.

The above described arrangement providesthat member 48 is movable with respect to member 5| and that member 5'I is movable to bring about sliding movement of clutch 4| for the purposealready noted.

To connect members 48 and 5| in a resilient relation I provide a bracket member 56 secured transversely of extending portions 54, the same having a downwardly extending portion 51. The

shown in dotted lines to withdraw portions 54 out of the path of the pawl.

vide the push button l1, already referred to.

The button is provided with a central'depend-;

ing portion 61 engaging the outer end of member 63 as shown. A spring 68 urges the button toward a normally elevated position.

\ It is to be noted that member 45 is provided with a friction device consisting of aplug 69, movably retained in an opening in the body of the member. The plug is urged into frictional contact with the surface of collar 43 by a spring 10 which is abutted by a cap screw 1 I. The purpose of this device isto slightly urge member 45 to rotate in unison with collar 43 and to prevent loose motion of member 45 as well as to promote quiet running.

Member 63 is normally disposed as indicated in solid lines in Fig. 2 wherein the portions 84 of member 63 lie in the path of pawl 59. This position corresponds to the position of parts shown in Fig. 5 wherein, assuming shaft 33 and dentures 44 to be in rotation in direction of the arrow, the free end of the pawl is abutted by one of portions 64, and by reason of momentarily rontinued rotation of member 45 the pawl is forced outwardly to the position shown.

It'will be apparent'that a slight, momentary manual pressure on button I! will result in withdrawal of portions 64, as shown in'dotted lines, outof the path of pawl 59, whereby the pawl is left free to engage one of dentures 44 and establish driving connection between shaft 53 and member 45. r

Assuming that button I! has been depressed only for a time suflicient to allow pawl 58 to escape, and has then been released to permit member 63 to return to normal position, it will be apparent that the pawl will remain in engagement with a denture 44 until it shall again engage one of portions M, which engagement will result in replacement of the pawl in disengaged position as described. From an examination of the drawings (Figs. land it will be seen that there are two portions 64 positioned on opposite sides of the axis of the shaft so that when one of these portions is engaged by the pawl N the cam structure will come to rest in forward position while if the pawl 59 is engaged by the opposite portion 64, the cam structure will come to rest in the reverse position. This arrangement constitutes a half-revolution" clutch since whenever the button I! is momentarily depressed and quickly released, the clutch will operate to rotate the cam member through one-half of a revolution of movement to shiftthe cam from a reverse to ajorward position or vice versa.

It is assumed that cam groove It has its upper and lowerpositions arranged, with respect to arrestment positons of member ll, so that arrestment takes place at the points where cam groove 48 is positioned to place member 48 in its highest or lowermost positions, whereby clutch ll will Ibe placed in engagement with either gear ll or 3 It will now become apparent that, with shaft 38 rotating, wringer roll I: may be caused to rotate alternately in opposite directions by successive momentary manipulations of button i1. and that with the wringer rolls rotating in a forward direction, as in'normal use, they may be immediately reversed bysimple manipulation oi button 1'I. Restoration of normal rotation isobviously brought about by another similar movement of the button.

It is to be particularly notedin connection with the above described device that in all cases member 45 is rotated, and clutch 4| is operated,- by power provided through shaft .33. The manual efiort required to bring about operation of the clutch is only that necessary to overcome the pressure of spring it and this may obviously .be

very slight. Thus the reversing function of the mechanism may be accomplished by means of a slight pressure of the finger tip on button ll.

Power for operating the mechanism is provided through shaft 3! as already noted. Power is transmitted from shaft 39 to shaft 33 through a mechanism which-is not a necessary part oi the present invention and which has been disclosed in several patents and application for patent iiled by inc-particularly Letters Patent #1368343 issued July 19, 1932.

The mechanism herein illustrated diners from that shown in the above patent only in minor details of structure. a

It k therefore thought unnecessary to describe the presently illustrated structure further than to say that a clutch member ,1: u slidably keyed upon shaft 38, and hasdentures 13 formed upon its upper edge which are engageable with dentures 31 formed in the lower end of collar 3!.

It will be apparent that clutch 12 may he slid upwardly to engage dentures II and 31 to transmit rotation of shaft 38 to shaft II or may rest in lowered position to leave the wringer rolls motionless.

. Clutch I2 is urged upwardly by a spring I! and 3 to actuate the same downwardly in opposition to the spring I provide an angulated member 'I' having an inwardly directed upper portion 11 en'- gaging an annular groove 18 in clutch l2 and a lower portion-ll resting upon the under surface .of a cam member 80. Member 16 is supported in vertically movable manner bymeans of a stud 18' slidably retained in a recess formed in structure l8. Cam ll isrotatably mounted upon the collar member 40 which has a dentured portion '2 .formed in its upper end and is secured to shaft ll as already noted. 1

Cam 8! and collar 40 are similar in function to cam groove 48 and collar 4!.

The mechanism for operating cam 80, to rotate it through 180 degree movements, is designated l3 and is similar in function to pawl member is. A slldable pin member GI, connected through a lever 05 with the finger key ii, functions in a manner-similar to member 63 to bring about actuation oi the clutch 12 to start and stop the JWringer, the latter action being obviously coninvention are possible without alteration of the trolled by manipulation of finger key It. Numerous modifications of the structure of my rinoiple thereof. Ido not wish to be limited in tructure or principle except the appended claims. I

' i What I claim is:

1. The combination in a wrin ger roll reversing mechanism, of a driving clutch'element and a pair of driven clutch elements, and means assoelated with said driving clutch element for applying power thereto to throw said driving clutch element into engagement with either of said driven clutch elements or out of engagement therewith, said means being characterized by an intermittent-motion half-revolution cam, a pawl to rotate said cam, a multiplicity of teeth on said driving shaft adapted to engage. said pawl, a. pair of stops arranged to disengage said pawl from said teeth, and a manual trip for said stops to permit reengagement of the pawl.

2. The combination in a wringer roll reversing mechanism, of a. driving clutch element and a pair of driven clutch elements, and means associated with said driving clutch element for applying power thereto to throw said driving clutch element into engagement with either of said driven clutch elements or out of engagement therewith, said means being characterized by a single manually operable control and a half-Q either one of said pair of driven clutch elements to the other, responsive to successively repeated actuations 01113110 aforementioned single manually operable control. t

'3. The combination in a wringer roll reversing mechanism, of a. driving clutch element and a pair of driven clutch elements, and means as sociated with said driving clutch element for applying power thereto to throw said driving clutch element into engagement with either of said driven clutch elements or out of engagement therewith; said means being characterized by a reciprocating shifting member. a pair of stops to interrupt the movement of said shifting member at each end of itsstroke, and a single manual control to release each of said stops.

-. ALPHEUS W. AL'I'ORFER.

within the scope of 

